Gerard Butler compares Angel Has Fallen to Logan

Much like how EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the go-to comparison folks in Hollywood use to describe their sequel, LOGAN has already become the prime comparison for when people want to take their action series and do a gritty, action-drama-style final entry. Telling a story stripped of indulgent CGI thrills would seem like an admirable angle for any modern action franchise, and one Gerard Butler wants to embrace for the third entry in the HAS FALLEN series.

The actor recently sat down with CinemaBlend while promoting the disaster movie GEOSTORM, and he talked about how the third movie in the FALLEN series – ANGEL HAS FALLEN – won’t have him fighting in another iconic location, and will instead take the fight inward. The greatest battle of all, of course, is the one inside yourself.

You know, it's fun to watch a city falling or the White House falling, and it's fun to watch it again, and you go 'what?' The joke would be, 'What's next? Tokyo?' OK. So let's take it in another direction and go inner world, and it just feels a little more surprising. It was almost like Logan was to Wolverine, is our Angel Has Fallen was to the first two.

The first two HAS FALLEN movies – OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN and LONDON HAS FALLEN – weren’t critical darlings, but made a decent amount at the box office thanks to giving audiences a bevy of popcorn thrills to shut their brains off to. The movies (especially the second) featured tons of chaotic action that Butler’s Mike Banning had to fight through, and so going down a more minimal route would be a massive shift for the series, as it avoids getting bigger and bigger with each outing.

The idea that each sequel needs to always be bigger and better needs to be eradicated quickly. All too often it only over-bloats a movie with too much CGI, too many characters and less substance. This is all done to give the audience more of what they liked in previous outings, but soon filmmakers will understand making a good movie will yield better results than a bigger movie. Though I don’t think the HAS FALLEN series is ripe for a LOGAN-type film, the fact they want to try and switch things up is admirable. However, I am bummed we probably won't see THE MOON HAS FALLEN. Actually, do that first, then go gritty and dramatic.